


The Ghost Of You

by sparkinside (boomersoonerash)



Series: 25 Days of Ficmas [6]
Category: Hanson (Band)
Genre: 25 Days of Fic-mas, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Not Related, Bubble Bath, Coffee, Conversations, F/M, Friendship, Married Couple, Married Life, NaNoWriMo 2017, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 09:33:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12932466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/pseuds/sparkinside
Summary: Avery feels like her marriage to Taylor is stuck in a rut and she vents to a very surprising person.





	The Ghost Of You

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6 of 25  
> Prompt: Eyes Shut

Chewing on her lip, Avery looked over at Taylor who was passed out on the couch, asleep with a book against his chest. She knew it was wrong to be angry at him. Wrong to fault him for being so tired, after all he was going to school for a degree in teaching. Pursuing his dream and she shouldn't fault him for that, but at the same time she did. She faulted him because it was putting a strain on their marriage.

They were supposed to be trying for a baby. He had agreed to it around Christmas time yet here they were in March and they’d had sex a handful of times.

Clearly not enough to make any baby and so she was angry.

Shaking her head Avery decided not to wake him as she headed upstairs for bed, exhausted as well because she had a long day too.

She was trying to fill her lonely days while her husband was at school with activities. Activities which consisted of working part time at a bakery downtown as well as going to an art class after at the new arts building across from the bakery.

The art lessons being taught by Taylor's best friend Zac, a man who Avery had once despised but after spending every day together for the past two months, maybe she didn't despise him as much.

Maybe she was warming to him enough to get why Taylor had become friends with him.

She even had a bit of sympathy for him because he was certain that his own spouse was cheating on him. He had said she was always making excuses to not be at home and so he had just stopped trying as well. He’d even confessed to Avery just tonight at the end of the art lesson that he had gone to a lawyer.

He was considering filing for a divorce.

Making it to the bedroom she shared with Taylor, Avery closed the door behind her as she went to get her pajamas that she normally wore.

She just wanted to lay down on bed and get her eyes shut. Get some sleep before she had another busy day, hoping that when she awoke tomorrow that she wasn't as angry at her husband either. After all, new days were fresh starts. That's what she always believed anyways.

*****

Letting out a sigh Avery clocked out from the bakery, walking over to a table with a muffin and a cup of coffee as she laid her purse on the table.

She had time to kill before she had to head home. There was no art lesson today so she was just going to stay at the bakery a little longer. Indulge in a muffin and cup of coffee as she read a book on her kindle or something like that.

She would do her best to forget that when she had woke up this morning she was still angry at Taylor who she hadn't even gotten to see as he had left before she woke. Today during her lunch she had gotten a text from him saying he was going to be late.

That he'd be at the campus library studying for a test.

"Mind if I sit here?" a voice spoke bringing Avery out of her thoughts and she smiled when she looked up at Zac, surprised to see him standing in front of the empty seat at her table.

Shaking her head she took a sip of her coffee, "No, sit down," she said watching as he did just that after she said he could. "I'm surprised you're downtown today since you have no art class to teach."

"Better than being home alone," Zac frowned as he answered. Avery couldn't help but frown as well, feeling bad for Zac and the predicament he was in with Natalie.

"Nat busy again?" Avery questioned but of course she knew the answer if Zac had been home alone.

Zac made a face at Avery's question, Avery hoping she hadn't offended him in anyway. "She says she is but I don't buy it."

"So you think she's with the person she's having an affair with?" Avery asked watching as Zac nodded his head yes.

Any words she had leaving her because what did she say to that? At least with Taylor she never had to worry that he was cheating. She knew it was his school she shared him with.

Sometimes it felt just as bad even if she knew it wasn't rational. Knew being cheated on with a person was much worse than having a husband too busy with school to notice her or give her what she needed which was his time and affection.

"I'm sorry," Avery finally spoke knowing sorry wasn't good enough but it was all she had. It would have to do whether it was good enough or not.

Zac shook his head as he gave her a sad smile, "It's not your fault," he told her with a shake of his head. "But at least you're lucky. Taylor would never cheat on you."

Letting out a bitter laugh Avery picked off a piece of her muffin. Chewing on it to distract herself and to keep from saying that sometimes it felt like he was. He was cheating on her with his school.

She was afraid to say that though because she knew her feelings made her ungrateful and she shouldn't be. She should be happy Taylor was going to school. That he was pursuing higher education to do something he loved one day.

"Sometimes it feels like he is," Avery confessed after she had swallowed her bite of the muffin. "He spends so much time busy with school that I feel as if that is his mistress, and I know it's selfish, but it's how I feel," she shrugged looking away from Zac.

She didn’t want to see him judging her because she suspected he would.

Anyone in their right mind would judge Avery and call her selfish for how she felt.

"That's Taylor for you," Zac laughed and not once did his words sound judgemental. "When he is dedicated to something, that always comes first."

Nodding her head Avery blushed not even sure why she was blushing if she were honest.

"I know that and I usually love that about him, I do," she sighed feeling a tiny bit of guilt. "But it's not fun when I feel like I come second to it half the time anymore."

Again Zac only laughed as he shook his head, "I doubt you come second," he said and this time there was some judgement in his words. Like he thought she was crazy for thinking that. "Taylor is crazy about you."

"Maybe he is," Avery said as she scrunched up her nose some. "But his actions as of late aren't showing it. I can't even remember the last time I made love to my husband," she admitted her blush growing some at that because why in the hell did she tell Zac?

He didn't need to know that his best friend and his best friend's wife were having a bit of a sex drought.

Zac went silent at that information, Avery watching as a matching blush settled on Zac's face and at least now they were both blushing.

She had gone and embarrassed the both of them.

Shaking her head, Avery stood up from her seat quickly as she grabbed her half uneaten muffin and her coffee. "I'm sorry for saying that," she apologized before leaving, quickly throwing her muffin away as she went out the door. She kept the coffee.

Still needed her caffeine.

Making it to her car she shut the door, letting her forehead rest against the steering wheel as she closed her eyes. She felt like such an idiot for what she had told Zac.

Yes, they may have been becoming friends but there was still a limit on what she told him, and somehow now she felt she had stepped out of bounds.

She was afraid things would be awkward for them from now on. It only seemed natural that it would be. How did they go back to being normal when Zac knew some of her and Taylor's sex life?

Then again, maybe it wasn't the first time he had heard details on it. Taylor was his best friend and men could talk just as bad as women could, so maybe Taylor had told him.

Another thought that slightly unsettled Avery if she were being honest with herself right now.

Lifting her head from the steering wheel she eventually moved to start up her car and drive home. Hoping that when she saw Zac tomorrow that they could just forget the entire last bit of this conversation they had today.

It would be best for both of them.

*****

That night after she had eaten dinner and while she was trying to relax in the bathtub where she had fixed herself a bubble bath, Avery heard her phone go off alerting her to a text message.

Reaching for the phone after wiping her hand off with a towel that was close by, Avery soon pulled up the text, swallowing hard when she saw the text had been from Zac.

The knowledge alone making her wary as she opened the text but the moment she did she relaxed some as she read the text he had sent.

Zac 9:46  
Natalie and I haven't had sex in four months. Just so you don't have to worry about what you said earlier.

Smiling Avery only shook her head as she put her phone back down. Knowing she'd respond to the text later when she was out of the bathtub, even if a part of her didn't know what to say other than thank you which may have been wrong given what he said and revealed in the text.

It was information that made Avery feel bad for him as well as making her wish there was a way she could help him fix his sex drought, but she wasn't sure how. Not when she had one of her own that she still had to fix.

A fix seemed unlikely as she refused to confront Taylor. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings or make him think she was a bitch because she was offended that he was putting his school before their marriage. Before their chance to have a baby.


End file.
